The thing about the Airplane was they didn’t want big AM hits. They wanted to surprise people, make themthink, make them feel. So they only hadtwo big hits (“Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” both of which Grace Slickbrought with her from her previous band, The Great Society, and both of whichhit top 10); they had six other songs that made the Billboard Hot 100 but couldn’t crack the top 40. All but one of them are here (“Pretty As YouFeel,” from 1971’s Bark; both thatalbum and Long John Silver werereleased after The Worst first appearedin 1970). Other important nonhits suchas “It’s No Secret” (from JeffersonAirplane Takes Off, with Signe Anderson as the lead female singer; she leftafter this album), “Plastic Fantastic Lover,” and “We Can Be Together” arerepresented as well.

1. Red Octopus
2. Octopus Songs

It’s not perfect,but at $6.86 on Amazon for a 17-song one-disk release ($9.99 for the downloadon either Amazon or iTunes, so go for the disk), it may be all you everneed. Classic rock radio usually neverplays anything from this era but “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” anyway,so you might want to be careful about what you get to start. If you love this, start buying the studio albums.Other options (links lead to the Wikipedia entries when available):(1974)is a mishmash of leftovers from 1966 and 1967, plus a few songs from 1970. Decompile protected eld file download. It doesn’t appear to be available fordownload, and is only on disk as a two-fer with the live Thirty Seconds Over Winterland. The EssentialJefferson Airplane (2006) was released not long after Sony acquired RCA’sbacklist, and like most editions of TheEssential series, it seems pretty decent. Not much in the way of rarities (although there are a few songs thatnever made it to albums), but all of the hits are here through all of their periods,and the price is right at $13.94 for the CD, $16.99 for the download ($19.99from iTunes). Again, probably more thanthe serious fan will need, but it’s probably worth streaming to find out.

I should point out there are piles of live albums out thereby the band that were only released in the last decade, plus some otheroddities ( White Rabbit and Other Hits,which is at $7.99 download for less than 22 minutes of music, can’t be a goodidea). Look before you leap.

And stream as much as you can – I’m not thatfamiliar with much of the Airplane’s music, so there may be songs on somecompilations that aren’t on others which are undiscovered gems. Virtually every set out there should have “WhiteRabbit” and “Somebody to Love.”. On to Jefferson Starship, which originally contained two ofthe primary songwriters from the Airplane (Kantner and Grace Slick), but notJorma Kaukonen or Jack Casady, who decided to make their offshoot band Hot Tunaa full-time gig, nor Marty Balin, who was intent on a solo career after havingleft the Airplane in 1970. Instead,David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Pete Sears (Rod Stewart’sband), John Barbata (The Turtles), and Craig Chaquico, who was just 19 when hejoined as lead guitarist, were added, along with Papa John Creach, who joinedthe Airplane in the early 1970s. Jefferson Starship put 17 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and there’s no one set that has them all.

This comes closest; it has 15 songs overall,13 of which were chart hits. The twonon-chart hits are Marty Balin’s “Caroline,” which was a big AOR favorite butwas never released as a single, and “Love Too Good,” with Grace Slick singinglead. As time went along Marty Balin,and then Mickey Thomas, became the lead voice of the band, with Grace recedinginto the background (well, as much as Grace Slick ever recedes, I suppose). There are four songs that made the charts(none of which made it into the top 50) that aren’t here: “St. Charles,” “Crazy Feelin’,” “Light theSky on Fire” (notable for its inclusion in TheStar Wars Holiday Special), and “Girl With the Hungry Eyes.” $7.99 for the download on Amazon (iTunesdoesn’t have it), $10.76 for the disk. Ishould warn it does have the album version of “Miracles,” which is somewhatNSFW (actually, I can’t find the single edit anywhere).Other options that are exclusively JeffersonStarship.

(1979) – Issued in January 1979, which is odd in itself; usually albums are like movies in that you want them out there in time for Christmas gift giving. With Marty Balin leaving and Grace on hiatus until she sobered up, RCA (understandably,to some extent) probably feared the group was on the verge of collapse andissued this one quickly. On vinyl, itwas quite a package – foil stamped and embossed gatefold cover, with “Light theSky on Fire” (backed by the never-a-hit “Hyperdrive”) included as a separate45. However, since it doesn’t includeanything after that (and since those two songs are placed on the CD out ofchronological order), it’s less interesting now. But it is cheap on disk - $5.89 to buy the CDat Amazon, $9.99 for the download on Amazon or iTunes. Platinum and GoldCollection: Jefferson Starship (2003) is as unrepresentative of this bandas Jefferson Airplane’s version.

12songs, four of which were never singles, and “With Your Love,” which peaked at#12, is left off, along with three other top 40 hits (“Find Your Way Back,” “BeMy Lady,” “No Way Out”). It’s kind ofgalling that Sony is keeping these available when they’ve got so many betteroptions available, but maybe they’re testing H.L.

Red Octopus

Mencken’s theories. $9.99 for the download at both Amazon andiTunes, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In 1986, Kantner, Balin, and Casady reunited to form The KBCBand, releasing a one-shot eponymous album on Arista (which somewhatsurprisingly is still available for download), while in 1989 Kaukonen and Slickreturned (although none of the drummers – Skip Spence, Spencer Dryden, and JoeyCovington – were invited back) for their own one-shot (and somewhat derided)reunion album, Jefferson Airplane, onColumbia (which not at all surprisingly isn’t available for download). Since then, Kantner continued to reformJefferson Starship (with Casady, Balin, and Slick occasionally participating)on various minor labels. Starship deserves a side note not because of its music (theydid manage as many top 10 hits as Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starshipcombined, including three #1s: “We BuiltThis City,” “Sara,” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”), but because of the bandhistory. 1984 (when Kantner dropped out): The band’s lineup is Mickey Thomas (vocals),Grace Slick (vocals), David Freiberg (keyboards/bass), Pete Sears(bass/keyboards), Craig Chaquico (guitar), Donny Baldwin (drums). 1985: Freiberg drops out after songwriter Peter Wolf (not theguy from J. Geils Band) is playing keyboards for Knee Deep in the Hoopla, which was supposed to be Freiberg ’s instrument.

Octopus Songs

He would later play withKantner’s reconstituted Jefferson Airplane. Replaced by touring/studio musicians. 1987: Sears bails outright around the time sessions for NoProtection begin.

He would play withHot Tuna for a decade. Replaced bytouring/studio musicians.

1988: After finishing No Protection and the tour, Grace Slickfinally bows out. That took awhile, huh? Anyway, there are some Starship-only compilations out there. Playlist:The Very Best of Starship appears to be the cheapest, but it’s missing acouple of minor hits; there’s also TheBest of Starship, the inevitable Platinumand Gold Collection: Starship, a suspicious Starship: Greatest Hits of the ’80s which iTunes helpfully notes ismade up of nothing but rerecordings, and GreatestHits/Ten Years and Change: 1979-1991, a poorly-selected 12-song set that alsoincludes some Jefferson Starship hitsfrom 1979 to 1984 (but skips “Be My Lady” and “No Way Out” in favor of two morerecent Mickey Thomas songs).

Me, I would skip all of these – and in fact, I have – in favorof a set that combines Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship hitsall in one package. (Just so you can getthe inescapable thrill of hearing “Crown of Creation” and “We Built This City”back to back on shuffle play.) VH1 Behind the Music Collection: JeffersonAirplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship is what I have, at $9.99 for eitherthe disk or the download; six Airplane, seven Jefferson Starship, and five Starshipsongs make it a reasonable starter for the first two bands, and most of whatyou’ll need for the third. If yourequire more, Hits (which wasrereleased as The Essential JeffersonAirplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship after Sony took over RCA’s backcatalog) has 17 Airplane songs, with 12 by Jefferson Starship and six by Starship;it’s $13.00 for the disk (or $16.99, if you’re foolish enough to insist on Hits instead – why two different pricesfor the same album, Amazon?), $14.99 for the download on either Amazon oriTunes.

Technically speaking, was the first album credited to, though practically the same lineup made, credited to //. The difference, however, was crucial: was once again a fully integrated bandmember, writing or co-writing five of the ten tracks. And there can be little doubt that it was 's irresistible ballad 'Miracles,' the biggest hit single in the Whatever catalog, that propelled to the top of the charts, the only album to chart that high and the best-selling album in their collective lives. This must have been sweet vindication for, who founded but then drifted away from the group as it veered away from his musical vision. Now, the collective was incorporating his taste without quite integrating it - 'Miracles,' with its strings and sax solo by nonband member, was hardly a characteristic / track. But then, neither exactly was 's showcase, 'Git Fiddler,' or bassist ' instrumental 'Sandalphon,' which sounded like something from an early album.

Has three strong songs, among them the second single 'Play on Love.' Like, reflected a multiplicity of musical tastes; there were ten credited songwriters, seven of whom were in the band. If there is any consistency in this material, it is in subject matter (love songs).

The album is more ballad-heavy and melodic than the albums, which made it more accessible to the broader audience it reached, though 'Sweeter Than Honey' is as tough a rocker as the band ever played.